Monday, February 25, 2008

This weekend's reading

NASCAR season started last weekend which means I'll be going through books like a madwoman in an attic. This weekend, even with the races rained out, I had plenty of time as D was reading for class (we both had books open at the same time!) and he fed his addictions by playing NASCAR on the Xbox.

Two vastly different reads...First, Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I've been wanting to read this one for a while, just forgot about it until I saw the striking cover on the library's "new books" shelf. Hirsi Ali was born in Somali, lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya before escaping a forced marriage and finding asylum in Holland in the early '90's. Though her parents were at times progressive for the culture and time they lived in, they were also contradictory and Hirsi Ali begins to see the destructive power of Islam personally, individually, culturally, and politically. Ali, who is educated mostly in Islamic schools and receives additional instruction in the Qua ran, also learns English and reads novels ranging from Wuthering Heights to Danielle Steele. She has dreams of a vocation and romance. And upon her immigration to Holland, she abandons Islam altogether and fully assimilates into Dutch/Western culture.

Once in Holland, she sees the immigrant experience played in several ways. And she begins to rebel against the Muslim culture that condones physical abuse of women, female genital mutilation, fundamental schools, arranged marriages, and the refusal to assimilate into Western culture. She sees Islam and the culture it creates as negative. It's not coincidence, she decides, that the failing political systems of the countries she has known, all have Islam as a shared factor. And she further condemns Western governments for their tolerance, for letting immigrants remain unassimilated. As a member of Parliament she does make some strides in getting the problems of Muslim women notices until her own life is threatened. Her analysis of international politics between the West and Islam is interesting--and makes me very afraid of Saudi Arabia. And she ends up refuting a lot of the American liberal ideas about why we are hated and why incidents like 9/11 happen.

Her style is matter-of-fact, sparse at times, and analytical. But in other instances her mother's abusive treatment, her father's duplicity, and her pain over being separated, disowned, forsaken by her family after leaving Africa are heart-wrenching. I had to put the book down before I continued reading the passage where Ali's and her sister's circumcisions (at ages 9 and 6) were detailed. Horrific.

But I was just as saddened in reading Ali's logical reasoning for becoming an atheist. The discrepancy she sees in the Qua ran calling Allah "holy" and the verses that subjugate women lead her to the conclusion that she must reject God altogether. She sees the ridiculousness of the sexual practices of Muslims and knows from experience that it didn't address her heart. She understands the failings of Islam and how it cannot be true. She just never sees that there is a true, loving God who does want relationship, not simply submission. That there is grace, not just works and a hope.

Mesmerizing book though.

Second, a way more light-hearted read, Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde, the fourth Thursday Next. I can't possibly begin to summarize the plot, especially since this is the fourth in the series. But let me just say that Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, from the play comes into Swindon, England, 1988 and he is hilarious. He wants to find out if people in the real world think he really is a "ditherer." He's also a bit depressed since he lost the Most Troubled Romantic Lead award to Heathcliff for the 80th time and "he would worry about not having anything to worry about if he didn't have anything to worry about" so the BookWorld Council lets him have a look for himself.

But here is one of my favorite parts. Here is Hamlet finding out that people portray him in plays:

"..I've heard that some people in the Outland think I am a dithering twit unable to make up his mind rather than a dynamic leader of men, and these 'play' things you describe will prove it to me one way or the other."I [Thursday] tried to think of the movie in which he prevaricates the least. "We could get the Zeffirelli version out on video for you to look at.""Who plays me?""Mel Gibson."Hamlet stared at me, mouth open. "But that's incredible!" he said ecstatically. "I'm Mel's biggest fan!" He thought for a moment. "So...Horatio must be played by Danny Glover, yes?""No, no. Listen: the Lethal Weapon series is nothing like Hamlet.""Well," replied the Prince reflectively, "in that I think you might be mistaken. The Martin Riggs character begins with self-doubt and contemplates suicide over the loss of a loved one but eventually turns into a decisive man of action and kills all the bad guys. Same as the Road Warrior series, really. Is Ophelia played by Patsy Kensit?""No," I replied, trying to be patient, "Helena Bonham Carter."He perked up when he heard this. "This gets better and better! When I tell Ophelia, she'll flip--if he hasn't already."

I laughed out loud, interrupting D's concentration as he tried to avoid a wreck. The better portion of the book is like this--English-teacher inside jokes.

Up next is Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and book club meets Friday so we'll have a new selection as well. Plus, I'm now on Shelfari.com so you can see my book shelf--my favs, my current reads, and what I hope to read next. Become my "friend" and we'll trade recommendations.